The idea was to set some guidelines for the plazas which are in a sort of no-man’s land because they’re not technically parks, streets or sidewalks, all of which are governed by different city codes.

Highlights of Wiener’s legislation include banning sleeping at any time in the plazas; prohibiting camping, cooking or creating any kind of shelter; banning the selling or bartering of any merchandise without a permit; and prohibiting four-wheeled shopping carts. Also, plaza goers couldn’t smoke.

Violations would be an infraction with a maximum fine for repeat offenders of $500.

“It’s very clearly anti-homeless legislation,” said Jennifer Friedenbach, director of the Coalition on Homelessness, who is organizing a big turnout to decry the proposal at Monday’s land use committee meeting.

So which parts does she especially hate?

“Pretty much everything,” she said. “Except the smoking.”

But plenty of folks want Wiener to take the legislation further. Some supervisors want it to apply to all of the city’s plazas and parklets, those parking spaces converted into mini-parks that are sprouting up everywhere.

Police Chief Greg Suhr sent a letter to Wiener asking him to beef up the legislation to include a ban on sitting on the pavement in the plazas between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. Voters in 2010 approved a sit/lie ban on sidewalks citywide, but the measure specifically excluded pieces of land in the city’s “Pavement to Parks” program.

Wiener declined, telling Suhr in his own letter, “We want to encourage people to gather and spend time in the plazas, which may include various forms of sitting on chairs, benches, ledges and even the ground.”

Wiener said the legislation isn’t anti-homeless at all, but is just setting up basic rules for the plazas. “Everyone is welcome here,” he said.

He said the legislation has the backing of many Castro neighborhood groups and merchants.

Count Dennis Ziebell among them. He’s lived in the Castro for 40 years and has owned Orphan Andy’s restaurant on Jane Warner Plaza for nearly as long. He and his partner have taken it upon themselves to landscape the plaza, water its plants and lock up its tables and chairs every night.

“Everybody in this neighborhood is very compassionate and supports homeless programs, but encouraging homeless people to live on the streets and live out of shopping carts by allowing it to go on everywhere is a pretty callous policy,” he said.

But really, the legislation shouldn’t be about homelessness at all, he added.

“This is simply housekeeping and standard rules and regulations so everybody can enjoy it and everybody’s safe,” he said.

But to Friedenbach, it’s just one more mean-spirited law in a city that has already banned aggressive panhandling and sitting on sidewalks and has slashed welfare checks for the homeless if housing’s available.

“They’ve tried these laws over and over again,” she said. “Homeless people are still present on the streets because they have nowhere to live.”